North America is likely to hold a substantial market share in the global barcode scanner market

North America is expected to create total incremental opportunity of more than US$ 1500 Mn between 2017 and 2027. The North America barcode scanner market is expected to account for a little more than 30% value share by the end of 2017. The region is projected to expand at a CAGR of 6.9% over the forecast period. Sales of barcode scanners in the U.S. is estimated to be valued at US$ 1404.8 Mn by the end of 2017 and is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period, exhibiting high value–high growth. However, the barcode scanner market in Canada is expected to incline towards low value–high growth during the forecast period. Canada is projected to represent total incremental opportunity of more than US$ 240 Mn between 2017 and 2027.
Increasing use of barcode scanners in the healthcare sector is fuelling the growth of the barcode scanner market in North America

Barcode scanners are being increasingly adopted in every aspect of the healthcare industry. According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (IMNA), most of the medical errors caused in a hospital during the stay of a patient are due to improper medication, which in turn is a result of wrong diagnosis resulting in loss of life. Hence, hospitals these days prefer a computer prescribed database to feed the updated information of a patient. Through the use of barcode scanners, every possible error can be rectified. Tracking exact patient records and reducing drug-related mistakes during a patient’s hospital stay becomes easy. This has led to an increase in demand for barcode scanners in North America.

10 of the best free QR code generators in 2019

QR codes have covered a long yet quick journey and from minimal black and white squares, they’ve evolved into an effective marketing strategy to enhance your business. As you’ll be compromising your personal information when making QR codes, it is important to select the best QR code generator to help you in the longer run. Obviously, it is not easy to change QR code generators every day and devise a new marketing plan from scratch.

Integrating IoT Devices to Help First Responders Save Lives

For first responders, the prospect of smart traffic lights is a welcome change. By operating in conjunction with GPS technology in response vehicles, smart traffic lights can help first responders easily avoid traffic congestion and safely reduce response times. Sensors that monitor the structural integrity of buildings, bridges, sidewalks and roads can improve safety by detecting issues before they cause an accident. With preventive maintenance, cities can avoid the costs associated with everything from minor injuries caused by an uneven sidewalk to major car wrecks or other fatal accidents.

How Excel creates barcodes

Can Excel create barcodes? Yes, and it’s as easy as downloading the correct fonts. You don’t have to purchase any of those barcode software programs that you can find online unless you need a more unusual kind of code, such as an ISBN or a postal code. Free fonts are available for most of the common barcodes, and fee-based fonts are available for the others (at reasonable prices).

McDonald’s integrates Alipay mobile payments and rewards into Hong Kong app

McDonald’s has incorporated the AlipayHK payments wallet into its mobile app for consumers in Hong Kong. In a global first for the fast food retailer, the app also allows customers to order food and access exclusive Alipay rewards. “Along with enhanced mobile ordering features in the McDonald’s app, AlipayHK users can tap and swipe to enjoy exclusive rewards on delicacies,” AlipayHK says.

NSA Views IoT Cyber Bill As Key Security Booster

With the increasing ubiquity of internet of things (IoT) devices and the vast expansion of the cyber attack surface that those devices create, National Security Agency (NSA) IoT Enterprise Functional Team Lead Arlene Santos is emphasizing the importance of the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act reintroduced in Congress last month as way to address the cybersecurity concerns posed by rapid IoT device growth. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Cory Gardner, R-Colo., aims to create and strengthen cybersecurity requirements for IoT devices purchased, used, and controlled by the Federal government.

Axzon Adds New Features to Sensing RFID Tag

Wireless sensing technologies company Axzon has released its latest sensor-based UHF RFID tags to provide passive sensing capabilities for the cold supply chain, as well as construction and other applications. The Xerxes-I Smart Passive Sensing system can accommodate up to four sensors in one device using a single chip, and ensure the security of that data, says Tanmay Zargar, Axzon's marketing director. The company is also releasing a tag with datalogging capabilities, known as the Xerxes-II, for which engineering samples will be made available later this year.

This RFID-blocking key-fob case works like a faraday cage to protect your car from theft

Designed to protect your key-fob from physical damage as well as digital theft, the KeyBlock is an RFID-blocking case that you can store the fob and keys in. The fob sits inside a compact, specialized hard-case enclosure, while the keys hang from it. Practically the size of your key-fob itself, you can carry the KeyBlock around with you. The RFID-blocking housing prevents spoofers and hackers from replicating the signature key-code your fob generates, and therefore denies them access to your car. When you DO need to use the fob, just open the box and slide it out using a slider built right into the KeyBlock’s side. An internal spring mechanism keeps your fob in place, preventing it from sliding out if held upside-down, and a small leash holds your keys too, letting you open your car the old-fashioned way, should you choose.

JCPenney Removes Apple Pay Support From Its Retail Stores and Mobile App

The option to use Apple Pay at checkout in the JCPenney iOS app has been removed, reports Appleosophy, catching many mobile shoppers off guard. The retailer began trialing Apple Pay in late 2015, before rolling it out to all of its stores across the United States and adding support for the payment method to its app for iPhone and iPad shortly after. JCPenney also made its credit card available on Apple Pay, enabling customers to earn shopping points through its JCPenney Rewards loyalty program, directly in the Wallet app on iPhone.

New BeamU Biometric Smart Card Features FPC’s T-Shape Fingerprint Sensor

Fingerprint Cards technology is being used to secure a new biometric smart card from the startup BeamU. BeamU’s eponymous card, which has already gone well past its $5,000 fundraising goal in a Kickstarter campaign launched in April, has many functions. At its core, it’s a kind of biometric key, storing user credentials and allowing them to be shared with paired devices via NFC, Bluetooth, or even a USB connection. And as a complementary function, it can also act as a password manager, essentially infusing archaic password security with second-factor biometric authentication.

Quake Global Launches Mobile Hand-Held RFID Reader, The QIAM App

Quake Global launches its Mobile Hand-Held RFID Reader Solution with the release of the iOS Application for QIAM (Quake Intelligent Asset Manager) available for iPhone. This new app offers another mechanism for closing the loop on location visibility and process optimization with UHF RFID asset tracking for both localized and remote assets. The App can be used in a wide variety of industries including hospitals, military, logistics, manufacturing and IT.

The QIAM App can be used with apple iPhones versions 6 through X. Using the QIAM App is easy; place the phone in the cradle, turn on the power, and start scanning to locate thousands of RFID assets simultaneously with a range of up to 30 feet. The app uses visual prompts to pinpoint the precise asset location and automatically update Quake’s QIAM live user interface and asset database, even in areas where there is no RFID infrastructure.

Vietnam tops global growth for mobile payments

Vietnam has recorded the highest growth in mobile payments in the past year, according to research by PwC. Singapore also saw strong growth, climbing 12 percentage points from 34% in 2018 to 46% in 2019. PwC says this highlights how efforts by mobile payments companies and its government – which began paving the way for digital payments in late 2017 – are paying off. PwC’s Global Consumer Insights Survey 2019 found that the percentage of consumers paying by mobile in Vietnam has increased to 61%, up from 37% in 2018.

Advances in RFID Readers at Automate/ProMat 2019

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) readers have become a standard device in industry to keep track of parts as well as in shipping to keep track of packages, and consumer operations to keep track of inventory. These devices have been around a long time, but at the Automate/ProMat 2019 conference and show a few new products appeared. Turck introduced its RFID offering with an economical UHF handheld device (Fig. 1). The PD-IDENT provides customers with a lightweight, easy-to-use smartphone RFID reader system. The device houses a UHF antenna and connects to the user’s smartphone via the audio port. In addition, Turck is providing customers with a basic, multipurpose Turck RFID app for their iOS and Android mobile devices (Windows support will be added in the future).

Sports retailer Decathlon has incorporated RFID tags into products

Sports retailer Decathlon has incorporated RFID tags into products at its first physical store in the US. The superstore, in Emeryville, California, uses the technology along with iPhones held by shop assistants to enable customers to checkout at Mobile Checkout stations around the shop easily and quickly. Rather than having to queue at a fixed cash desk, customers let an assistant know that they want to pay. The assistant puts the customer’s physical shopping basket inside an RFID-enabled mobile checkout station, scans a QR code on the station, and the contents of the basket are transferred to a virtual shopping bag on an app on the assistant’s iPhone.

DBS Bank adds mobile QR payment acceptance for business customers

Hong Kong's DBS Bank is integrating into the country's new Faster Payments System to allow small businesses to accept QR code instant payments. The DBS Max app allows bank customers to scan a faster payments QR code and pay in real-time through their own mobile banking apps.

Microsoft acquires Express Logic for its real-time internet of things operating system

Microsoft announced that it’s acquired Express Logic, a 23-year-old San Diego, California-based developer of real-time operating systems (RTOS) for internet of things (IoT) and edge devices powered by microcontroller units (MCUs), for an undisclosed amount. The Seattle company notes that Express Logic’s ThreadX RTOS — which is designed to scale from resource-constrained, battery-powered devices with less than 64KB of flash memory to much more powerful hardware — has over 6.2 billion deployments, making it one of the most-deployed RTOS in the world.

Unlocking The Potential Of In-Store IoT

Because of the demand generated in the consumer market for connected devices, the price, operational costs and form factor of technologies like Bluetooth Low Energy have evolved considerably. This comes at an opportune time as the Bluetooth Special Interest Group recently announced it sees sensors providing sensing and tracking as one of the significant areas of growth for the technology. Further, with the announcement of Core Specification v5.1, the potential accuracy of Bluetooth-based location solutions has been improved significantly — a clear indication that the Bluetooth SIG intends for Bluetooth Low Energy to be used in commercial IoT environments.

A Soccer Fan Got a QR Code Tattoo And It Didn't Really Go to Plan

QR codes linking to YouTube footage of a favorite sports team kicking ass may suddenly stop working after several hours. At least, that's what happened to one fan of Argentina's River Plate soccer team who got the QR code linking to a triumphant highlight video. It was an innovative, high-tech tribute. The only problem is that a rival team's fans responded by flooding to YouTube and reporting the video for copyright infringement as a prank, according to The Independent — which resulted with the video vanishing.

One in eight contactless journeys in London now made with mobile phones

More than 55% of all payments in the London transit system are made via contactless instead of the legacy Oyster card, according to TfL figures for early April provided to PaymentsSource. More than 21.6 million journeys per week are made on London public transit using contactless payments. More than 53,000 new contactless cards or new mobile contactless payments enter the TfL each day, and one in eight contactless journeys come via Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, or other mobile wallet apps.

RFID Goes to the Races

RFID-enabled wristbands for contactless payments and access control are most commonly worn by members of the millennial and Gen Z generations at music festivals, water parks and amusement parks. The Chelmsford City Racecourse, located in Essex, England, aims to bring the convenience of cashless payments at the tap of a wristband not only to more millennials, but to a newer demographic as well: horse race fans. While typical attendees tend to be less familiar with the technology, they come to the track expecting to spend money, and the race course intends to provide RFID technology to make that easier and more convenient. The system will be used at post-race concerts, however, rather than at the races themselves.

Charles Hoskinson Announces IOHK Summit 2019 Attendees Will Receive Tangem Smart Card

IOHK Summit 2019 is fast approaching. The blockchain-centric event will host speakers, cryptocurrency experts, and partners and take place on April 17th and 18th in Miami, Florida. Moreover, Charles Hoskinson – the CEO of IOHK and one of Ethereum’s co-founders – has recently revealed that attendees of the event will be treated to a special gift, a Tangem smart card, which contains ”new smart card technology that allows you to store and carry cryptocurrencies on physical plastic cards and NFC antenna inside.”

Hornady Granted Patents for RFID Safes

Hornady has been granted two utility patents related to the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology used in the company’s premium line of RAPiD Safes. The firm first introduced the RFID approach—which ensures the gun is secured from unauthorized use, yet provides high-speed access in a life-threatening situation—to its firearm lock boxes in 2013. “The first patent [No. 9,530,266] established the use of RFID technology in a firearm storage device while the second patent [No. 10,233,687] strengthens the company’s claims on the first.” said Tom Delattre, Hornady Security Products coordinator.

Apple to open iPhone NFC functionality for EU Brexit app by end of this year

The UK government has launched an app that helps EU citizens apply for residency in the UK post-Brexit. The process requires that people fill out a short form, take a selfie, and scan their passport with NFC using their smartphone. The iPhone’s NFC functionality, however, only supports NDEF data format, and the data encoded inside passports does not follow these standards. As detailed by NFC World, Apple will extend the NFC capabilities of the iPhone to support the EU Exit: ID Document Check application.

Waste-Management System Cleans Up With UHF RFID

European waste-management company Compta is using RFID technology to automatically gain visibility into bin collection as part of its Bee2Waste program. The passive UHF solution was installed by TechSigno using the latter's cloud-based software, as well as RFID reader technology from Chainway. Compta has employed RFID for more than a decade to track almost 250,000 containers used by its customers throughout numerous European cities. The system has employed low-frequency (LF) technology, which was captured and managed by a variety of processes and software platforms, depending on the municipality or company. The technology company sought a more seamless solution that would make the management of bins easier and universal across all of its clients' sites, says Sérgio Spinola, Compta's product and systems engineer.

Security storm brewing for Oracle Java-powered smart cards

Bug hunters say Oracle's Java Card platform is host to a dozen and a half security flaws that could place smart-cards and similar embedded devices using the tech at risk of hijacking. Adam Gowdiak, CEO of Security Explorations, said he and his team discovered and privately reported the vulnerabilities to Oracle and smart-card hardware biz Gemalto. Designed for things like SIM cards, payment cards, and other embedded tech, Java Card lets snippets of code, dubbed applets, run within a small memory footprint on cards and similar gadgets using the minimal processing power available in the widgets.

Indonesia to implement QR Code standards by second half of the year

Indonesia’s central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI), is currently conducting a trial for QR Code standardization named QRIS (Indonesian Standard QR Code). Although QR codes are already beginning to be used by the public for mobile payments, the QR Code payment system does not yet have standards in Indonesia. BI hopes to see an implementation of the new standard immediately, considering the use of mobile payments will continue to rise. With the QRIS, one code can be used by various payment system providers at every merchant.

Indonesian firm introduces dual-display QR EDC device

Handy and easy: The TSM QR Code EDC allows customers to scan the QR Code while the cashier holds the device for a more convenient transaction. Here comes the era of less cash — and even less plastic — in payment systems. Thanks to the advancement of information and communication technology, more and more people have started to shift to “digital wallets” as a handy, rapid payment system through their cellphones for all their meals and groceries, as well as other services,

Debit card with built-in fingerprint reader begins trial in the UK

British bank NatWest is trialling the use of a new NFC payment card with a built-in fingerprint scanner. The trial, which will include 200 customers when it begins in mid-April, will allow its participants to make NFC payments (called “contactless” in the UK) without needing to input a PIN or offer a signature. The standard £30 limit for contactless payments will not apply when the fingerprint is used. Currently, anyone can make a contactless payment in the UK by tapping their card on the terminal to make a payment. As a result of this lack of security, a £30 limit is applied to such payments, with retailers requiring you to place your card into the card reader and enter a PIN for more expensive purchases (commonly referred to as the “Chip and PIN” method).

NeBurner Launches IoT System-on-Module

NetBurner introduced its ARM-powered NetBurner embedded Ethernet System-on-Module and associated development kit. The MODM7AE70 is a scalable computing platform for embedded systems and the Internet of Things (IoT). The product aims to accelerate innovation and makes it easy to add Ethernet connectivity to new designs or existing systems. NetBurner’s new ARM Cortex-Powered System-on-Module provides a spectrum of support for IoT applications in the manufacturing, energy, robotics, satellite communications, transportation, and automotive industries.

What the Transition to Smart Cards Can Teach the US Healthcare Industry

Given the copious amounts of sensitive data coursing through the US healthcare system, strong information security remains a high-stakes requirement for all players in the industry. Among the most obvious problem areas, healthcare information security currently suffers from the inherent weakness of using passwords to guard information access. However, hope is on the horizon. Technology vendors and organizations are collaborating toward making a password-less future. But meanwhile, industries that store and share personally identifiable information can activate multifactor authentication (MFA) to buttress password protection.

Sainsbury’s: Mobile self-checkout drives higher shopper spending

Last summer, Sainsbury’s made headlines with the launch of its new mobile ‘scan-and-go’ technology. A trial in a South London store saw customers scanning products with their smartphone app and paying for goods without having to visit a fixed till or self-service machine. With the industry still looking at the checkout-less Amazon Go stores in awe, this development was a speedy move by Sainsbury’s to offer the customer a convenient solution to get in and out of a store quickly.

RFID for Indoor Asset Tracking

The venerable RFID tag traces its ancestry to the “friend or foe” transponder systems developed for military aircraft beginning in WWII. Since then, RFID has earned its place as a reliable asset identification system. Recently, it has been marketed as a solution for real-time indoor positioning. This post provides a brief overview of how RFID works, how it might be used for indoor asset tracking, and how it compares to alternatives. In some cases, RFID competes most directly with barcodes or QR codes. It offers the obvious advantage of being readable at a distance. Active or semi-active RFID tags can provide valuable sensor information.

Stance lets customers use their phones to self checkout anywhere in store

Specialist sock retailer Stance is enabling customers to pay for products on their mobile phones from anywhere in its stores — without them having to visit a physical checkout desk, talk with a shop assistant or download an app. Shoppers use the browser on their mobile phone to navigate to a short URL. They then scan the product barcode and pay on their phone using Apple Pay, Google Pay or a credit card.

Avery Dennison, Kit Check Team Up on RFID Technology for Big Pharma

Drug makers have begun planning or implementing RFID tagging solutions to enable the tracking of their products from manufacture to hospital use. To address their need for seamless, global solutions, Kit Check and Avery Dennison have teamed up to provide a solution aimed at making that process easier. Avery Dennison is selling passive UHF RFID tags designed and developed with Kit Check to operate effectively when applied directly to a vial or syringe. The two companies will provide drug manufacturers with turnkey solutions that include assistance for label conversion, infrastructure deployment and integration with Kit Check's software platform.

IoT attacks increase but rely on the same old weaknesses

Internet of Things devices have proved to be problematic in their vulnerability to cyber attacks. This is underlined by a new report from F-Secure which finds that threats and the number of attacks continue to increase, but still depend on well-known security weaknesses, such as unpatched software and weak passwords. The number of IoT threats observed by F-Secure Labs doubled in 2018, growing from 19 to 38 in the space of a single year.

East Japan Railway Co. To Allow Ticket Payment In Cryptocurrency via Suica Smart Card

East Japan Railway Company or JR East, Japan’s largest railway company, plans to start accepting payments in cryptocurrency through its Suica smart cards, according to a report by Japanese media house ANN News. For the project, JR East has partnered with Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DeCurret, which was approved recently by the Japanese Financial Services Agency. The railway company will also partner with Internet Initiative Japan or IIJ.

Is IoT Making Way for Smart Agriculture?

Field management is one of the most essential procedures for farming. During this procedure, farmers check the state of soil and crops and try to predict the harvest dates. Farmers also estimate the revenue that will be generated from their yield. Smart farming using IoT will simplify field management practices and implement a data-centric approach to farming. IoT sensors can be placed in the soil across the field to monitor soil composition and crop health. Smart farming using IoT sensors will enable the collection of crucial data that would provide insights into field history, soil moisture, and vegetation map. Also, IoT sensors can gauge pesticides in the soil to help maintain soil health. Furthermore, IoT sensors can also send alerts for irrigation and pest infestation, and forecast the time of harvest and crop yield.

NXP Takes Melbourne Transit Mobile with Google Pay Integration for Trains, Buses and Trams

NXP Semiconductors announced that the Public Transport Victoria (PTV) network in Australia implemented NXP’s end-to-end MIFARE 2GO cloud service with Google Pay to take its myki transit card mobile. Deployed by system integrator NTT DATA, the new mobile myki is being used across PTV buses, trains and trams in Melbourne and throughout the regional Victoria area. NXP’s MIFARE 2GO cloud service is the first to work with Google Pay to enable mobile ticketing in multiple transportation modes and scalability across all compatible Android NFC-enabled phones, giving citizens convenient and efficient travel options in smart cities.

MIFARE 2GO is a cloud service that manages digitized MIFARE product-based credentials. It connects services with devices—and helps operators issue their services instantly on any NFC-enabled mobile device. Today, there are 12 million active myki cards based on NXP’s MIFARE DESFire ICs and PTV processes 600 million transactions annually, making Victoria one of the largest ticketing systems worldwide.

Mobile myki allows commuters to use their phone to purchase a pass or add a balance to a virtual myki card stored in Google Pay. The user can use Google Pay to make the purchase and instantly save the ticket to the mobile device, ready to ride, saving users time. Mobile myki offers the same convenience as a physical card -- users simply hold their phone to the transit terminal with the screen powered on. There is no need to spend time unlocking the phone or opening the app, keeping riders moving quickly and efficiently along their journey.

Skyscraper Panels Tracked via RFID

Building envelope company Permasteelisa North America (PNA) is using RFID technology in its North American construction projects to manage the locations of its curtain wall window panels as they are built into customers' structures. The technology enables workers to easily identify each panel and its history simply by reading tags via a handheld device. The solution, provided by Vizinex RFID and using the company's customized tags, enables PNA to link an RFID tag ID to data about the production time and materials, as well as any damage or rework conducted on a particular item.

Microsoft Tackles IoT Security with New Azure Updates

Microsoft recently announced Azure Security Center for IoT, a new set of programs and capabilities to help security teams monitor the security properties of industrial-connected devices. Its debut, along with several other security updates focused on the Internet of Things (IoT) ahead of the 2019 Hannover Messe industrial manufacturing show, arrives at a time when manufacturing firms are digitizing their operations and want to better integrate security to protect processes and data.

Radar raises $16 million to automate inventory management with RFID and computer vision

Radar, a fledgling platform that combines radio frequency identification (RFID) with computer vision to help retailers automate inventory management and more, announced that it has raised $16 million in a round of funding from Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures, NTT Docomo Ventures, Align Ventures, Beanstalk Ventures, Colle Capital, Founders Fund Pathfinder, and Novel TMT. The company said that a couple of its stealth customers — two undisclosed billion-dollar retailers — also invested in the round.

How to Create QR Code for a Video

Suppose you create an invitation video that you want others to view only after seeing the physical invitation. Sending such a video on WhatsApp or other apps will not be appropriate for you would not know when the other person opens the physical invitation. So adding a video link on the physical invite would be a better option. However, links are usually long. An alternative exists where you create a Quick response aka QR code for your video and then print it on the invitation. The recipient would have to scan the QR code, and they will be able to watch your video.

This Nanotech Startup Can Track Any Product Through Its Barcode

Shortly after licensing the patent, now-CTO Billy Meadow founded LocatorX to bring low-cost real-time tracking to physical assets. The nanotechnology startup has three versions of its offerings to fit the needs of partners in different industries. The first product is a unique 2D Barcode, called Certified Quick Response (CQR), that puts location tracking on the product labels of consumer devices (think food products, beverages, and more). LocatorX has already acquired two large customers in the consumer brands space, each with billions of dollars in revenue.

Impinj unveils next-gen tags

Impinj unveiled a series of smaller, more powerful RFID tags to connect everyday items to the internet, an innovation the Seattle-based company claims will transform the industry by making the technology applicable to more items in a variety of areas. Impinj didn’t give specifics about individual chips in the new M700 series or their cost. But Impinj Executive Vice President Jeff Dossett said the new tags will track items more reliably and from a greater distance.